Code Lyoko: System Destruction
by LyokoFreaks
Summary: Two months after X.A.N.A. was sealed back into the Super Computer, life returned to normal, except for Ulrich, who's been experiencing some strange symptoms. Now he must deal with X.A.N.A. and Sensei Belpois while coping with some unexpected developments.
1. Prologue: Happy Ending

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko, blah blah blah... :-p

A/N: Well, I got a lot of reviews and, since I believe my story Code Lyoko: System Outbreak was kind of left open, I wrote a sequel. This is it, so I hope you enjoy. I'll be updating as often as I can. Thanks again to all who reviewed and liked my other story. Make sure you R&R! OK, here we go...

**Prologue: Happy Ending**

Ulrich approached Yumi's house with the girl by his side. She walked close to him as they made their way down the sidewalk, arm-in-arm. They stopped in front of the door to her quarters and turned to each other, staying silent for a few moments. "I, uh, had a great time tonight," Yumi said finally and blushed. Ulrich's face turned a slight shade of pink as she leaned in to kiss him. They wrapped their arms around each other and embraced affectionately, then broke away and smiled.

"I guess I better get going," he said and started down the steps, letting his hand slowly slip from hers. "I love you." He didn't turn away from her for even a second as he approached the front gate.

"I love you, too," she replied, her now completely red face clearly visible under the lamplight.

"Goodnight," Ulrich said before finally turning and left her with only memories of their perfect night and a kiss.

"Goodnight," she replied quietly as she watched him walk back down the sidewalk toward the school. Then she turned to the front door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. She yawned, stretching her arms into the air, and glanced at the nearest clock. She sighed at the display of 11:00 on it. _Good thing tomorrow's Saturday; no afternoon classes. I just hope my parents don't notice that I was out so late._ She chuckled to herself. _Fat chance of that._ She crept silently up the stairs and tiptoed into her room. Her evening clothing of black mini-skirt and corresponding sleeveless top fell to the floor after she pulled them off. Then she slipped on her pajamas and crawled into bed. _I am so busted._

Ulrich walked through the park and toward the dormitory, recalling the night's events. He counted off on his fingers as he thought: _Let's see, dinner, movie…_ He stopped and let out a deep sigh, hoping that it wasn't too late, and pulled out his phone to check the time. _Oh great, 11:06! That Xavier is going to kill me if I slack tomorrow._ Suddenly, he began to panic, thinking about his job that, coincidentally, provided the funds on which his date with Yumi thrived. Then his employer reared himself into Ulrich's thoughts as if just to mock the boy. Twenty-three year old Xavier Nathaniel Belpois, Jeremie's cousin, operated a dojo in town and, hearing of Ulrich's excellent martial arts abilities, quickly enlisted the boy for a sensei. _How could someone as unathletic as Jeremie have a cousin like Xavier? That guy runs me into the ground with warm-ups and training the pupils and won't even let me fight him. _The thought of that man burned him up as he approached the gate to Kadic Junior High. He stepped onto the premises and stopped in front of the dormitory. _At least tomorrow's Saturday._ Through the doors, up the stairs, and down the corridor led him to his and Odd's room. He entered, greeted by the sleeping figures of Odd and Kiwi, and pulled off his clothing. After a yawn, he began to climb into bed, only to, without warning, fall unconscious onto his mattress.

**+XoX+**

Ulrich awoke the next morning to the sound of the alarm built into his clock. He sat up and shook his head. _Wow, what happened last night?_ Odd stirred slightly and began muttering in his half-sleep.

"Just five more minutes, mommy," he said and turned over onto his stomach, then placed his pillow over his head. Ulrich shook his head again, smiled, and stood up. Then he grabbed Kiwi, who had woken up with him, and placed him next to Odd. The boy put his head back on top of his pillow, still not fully awake yet. Kiwi began licking Odd's face, which, to Ulrich's surprise, didn't wake the boy. "That's a little weird, Sissi, licking my face. Don't you just wanna kiss?" he said in his sleep and wrapped his arms around the dog, then gave him a peck on the nose. Ulrich couldn't help but laugh, hysterically, which did wake Odd up. He propped himself up on his elbow and starred at the laughing boy. "What's so funny?" he asked sleepily and rubbed his eyes. Then he perked up and looked about the room for a potential prank. Ulrich shook his head and calmed his laughter.

"It's nothing, Odd," he said with a grin. Odd raised an eyebrow in confusion. Then, without looking at the clock, he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"Time for breakfast!" he announced and hopped out of bed. Ulrich grabbed a towel and walked to the door.

"I'm going to take a shower first," he said and opened it.

"I'm heading straight for the cafeteria," Odd replied and pulled on his purple pants. "Oh yeah! How did your date go last night, huh?" he asked and gave Ulrich a soft elbow in the ribs. Ulrich just gave a thumb up and a smile, then left the room. Odd grinned and pulled on his purple undershirt, then a darker purple, long-sleeve shirt. After slipping on his yellow shoes, he exited the room himself. _Lucky guy. I've dated practically every girl in this school and he's happy with just one._ He shook this thought from his head and replaced it with the breakfast meal that awaited him in the dining hall.

**+XoX+**

Odd's reminder of Ulrich's date put the memories of the previous night back into the brown-haired boy's head. But, as the warm water trickled down his body, he was forced to recall what closed his evening. _Did I pass out or was I just tired?_ The water stopped flowing after he turned the handles. Then he grabbed his towel, dried himself off, and wrapped it around himself. _It was so weird; maybe I should tell the others. No, I don't want them to worry._ He reentered his room and got dressed. Then, after wrestling his shoe from Kiwi, he put it and its corresponding twin on his feet and left the dormitory. He thought more of the night, some of his date and some of his episode, as he walked off the school grounds and down the sidewalk to intercept Yumi on her way to school. Everything that had been running through his mind dissipated at the sight of his black-clad angel who approached him. She stopped at the corner and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"It's kind of hard to walk me to school when you're all the way over there!" she shouted over the minimal traffic. Ulrich smiled and started toward her. She didn't budge until he finally reached her and took her hand. Then she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and they walked back to the school.

"Your parents weren't too mad at you, were they?" he asked sheepishly.

"Well," she replied and dropped her head, "I got grounded." Ulrich looked at her with guilt in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he told her apologetically. She shook her head.

"It's alright, but," she replied and paused for a moment, "I don't think that we should go out for a while." Ulrich sighed before she continued. "Listen, Ulrich, if I have to fight X.A.N.A. at night, then we can't really go on a date. That wasn't a very good idea." Ulrich nodded in agreement.

"That's probably a good idea," he said and rubbed the back of his head. They walked through the school gate a minute later and made their way toward the dining hall when they heard a voice from behind them.

"Ulrich! Yumi! Wait up!" The two turned around to the figure of a girl dressed in a pink shirt bearing a yellow heart and poofy sleeves. Ulrich and Yumi smiled at her as she approached.

"Hey Sissi!" Yumi yelled back, letting go of Ulrich's hand and waving. The skirt-over-pants-wearing girl joined them and the trio made their way to the cafeteria. They filed inside the building and looked around, spotting their friend's in the back, but before proceeding, they were stopped by two boys, one with black hair and unsightly zits and one with blonde hair and unsightly short shorts.

"Still hanging out with these losers, Elisabeth?" Herve asked sarcastically. Sissi growled with anger and put her arms around Ulrich's and Yumi's shoulders.

"These 'losers'" she began with agitation in her voice, "are my friends!" Her two amis looked at each other, wondering if this comment really had the positive effect they were sure she was trying to instill, but nodded all the same.

"Yeah, so back off, ya hear?" Yumi said intimidating, causing the boys to back up and walk away. Ulrich, Yumi, and Sissi laughed triumphantly and approached the table where the rest of their friends sat. Odd had already drained several bowels of cereal and a few bananas when they arrived and was now working on a piece of toast. Sissi took a seat beside him and the Stern/Ishiyama couple sat on the opposite side of the table next to each other.

"Good morning," William said while simultaneously yawning. Odd gobbled up the toast and slurped down a glass of milk. Sissi stared at him without a word until he placed his cup down on the table. She shook her head in amazement.

"Where do you put it all?" she asked in amazement and patted his stomach. "You're so scrawny." She flinched when the boy stood up and slammed his fists on the table.

"IMNOTSCRAWNYIMSVELTE!" he yelled. The entire lunchroom turned to look at him, stared for a moment, and then went back to eating. Sissi giggled as he sat down and immediately resumed shoving food into his face. Jeremie attempted eating as well, a half-peeled banana in his hand, but kept nodding off, dropping his head then jerking it back up as he slid steadily in and out of consciousness.

"Um, Jeremie," Ulrich began. The boy lifted his head long enough to speak.

"Another anti-virus all-nighter," he said before dropping his head completely on the table. Aelita let out a sigh, shook her head, and sat him back up.

"Come on honey, time for school," she said and shook him gently.

"But Aelita…"

"No buts!" She took the banana from his hand and lifted it in front of his face. "Now, open the tunnel; here comes the train! Choo-choo!" He slowly opened his mouth and accepted the fruit, taking a bite. "That's a good boy," she said with a smile as she retracted the banana and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The others stared at her strangely, gaining themselves a confused look from the pink-haired girl. "What? Someone has to feed him." She crossed her arms, causing Jeremie to fall onto the table. His face hit it with a thud and he screamed in pain.

"OK! I'm up!" he yelled, causing the remaining students in the dining hall to stare once more at the scene at the table. Jeremie's screaming also caught the attention of the then dozing off William.

"Yeah, me too," he said sleepily and stretched. Then the bell rang, signaling the start of class, and the seven of them stood up, returned their trays and exited the building. Ulrich and Yumi kissed before embarking on the separate paths toward their respective classrooms, with Jeremie and Aelita following behind them, hand-in-hand. William trailed after Yumi and Odd and Sissi joined the other eighth graders who were going to Mrs. Hertz's class, exchanging playful insults and several sticking-outs of the tongue. Life was more or less back to normal since the events of two months beforehand, when X.A.N.A. escaped in tangible form from the Super Computer. Well, as normal as living a double life as students and virtual warriors attempting to stop a malevolent computer virus from destroying the world can be. Nonetheless, the Lyoko Warriors returned to their routines of the past. But, of course, routines don't last forever…


	2. Chapter One: Same Old Thing

**Chapter 1: Same Old Thing**

Jeremie raised his hand in the middle of Mrs. Hertz's class. "Excuse me, ma'am." She turned from the chalkboard to look at him.

"Yes Jeremie, what is it?" she asked.

"May I go to the infirmary?" Ulrich smiled at Jeremie's question.

_Can't he come up with anything better?_ He knew that was his cue, though, and immediately raised his hand. Just as always, Odd did as well.

"We'll go with him!" they said simultaneously and the three boys exited the room before the teacher could protest. Once outside the room, they began to speak of the obvious X.A.N.A. attack.

"There's an activated tower in the Ice Sector," Jeremie told them. "I'll send you two to Lyoko to secure the tower. Aelita and Sissi should be joining us after they get back from the bathroom."

"Girls and their constant need to look pretty," Odd said sarcastically, putting folded hands under his chin and batting his eyelids rapidly. Ulrich laughed at Odd's display, but Jeremie, of course, didn't find it very amusing. It wasn't because he was making fun of Aelita; he just didn't find any of Odd's jokes very funny.

"Can we try to focus, please," he said in his serious voice. Odd chuckled quietly as they made their way out of the science building and stopped at the corner of the building so he and the others could look out for Jim. After announcing that the coast was clear, Ulrich and Jeremie made a break for the sewer. They ceased running and turned to Odd, who didn't leave the side of the building. "Um, coming Odd?"

"Well," the purple-clad boy began, blushing slightly, "I just thought I'd wait for Sissi… and the others of, course!" he concluded when he received knowing smiles from Ulrich and Jeremie. He smiled back one of his Odd smiles, but it faded when Ulrich grabbed his arm.

"You two can make out later," he said while laughing at the same time. "We have monsters to take care of." He dragged Odd with him for a few seconds before the he walk on his own and the trio resumed their run toward the manhole hidden in the woods. Ulrich removed the cover, allowing the others to descend, and then climbed in himself. He replaced the metal plate and climbed down the ladder.

**+XoX+**

"X.A.N.A. SOS, J." Yumi said to herself. She slipped her phone into her pocket and raised her hand. The teacher allowed her and William to leave after a request to go to the infirmary and they left the building. They looked around the corner for Jim and, after not seeing him, decided to make their way to the forest. Before they could depart, however, William felt a tap on his shoulder, jumped into the air, and turned around. Fortunately, he ended up being face to face with two girls rather than a large, male gym teacher. "Gave us a bit of a scare, there," Yumi said after calming the surprise of William practically jumping on her in surprise. Aelita and Sissi smiled.

"Shall we?" the pink-haired girl asked. After a nod from Yumi, the four Lyoko Warriors ran toward the woods.

**+XoX+**

Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie emerged from the sewer and started across the bridge toward the factory. "I wonder what X.A.N.A.'s got in store for us this time," Odd said.

"Well, I'd rather not find out if you ask me," Jeremie replied. About halfway across the bridge, they stopped at the sight of a redheaded girl, several feet away.

"Uh-oh, better watch out guys; little Milly's gonna getcha!" Odd said jokingly. The next second, he was on the ground with electricity surging through his body and a small child standing over him. "So I didn't expect Tamiya," he said weakly. Ulrich quickly turned around and drove his fist into her cheek, sending her to the ground. She put a hand to the point of impact and growled.

"Jeremie, help Odd to the factory; I'll take care of these two," Ulrich said and turned to face Milly. Jeremie nodded and helped Odd to his feet.

"Don't worry about me," he said, shaking his head. "I'm fine." He ran toward Milly and speared her to the ground, then quickly got up and sprinted into the factory with Jeremie on his heels. Ulrich adopted a martial arts stance, glancing to Tamiya, who just got to her feet, then to Milly, who was still on her back.

_This is going to be difficult._ After Milly got back on her feet, she and Tamiya ran toward Ulrich, charging electricity in each hand. He sidestepped out of the way, causing them to collide and send a shock into each other. Then he backflipped, kicking them both in their jaws, and sent them flying toward the edge of the bridge. They simultaneously slammed against the side railing and landed on their stomachs on the ground. Ulrich exhaled deeply and shook his head, preparing for the X.A.N.A. enhanced children to resume their onslaught. Milly was the first on her feet and ran at Ulrich, who attempted to plant his fist in her stomach. She jumped over his extended arm in a frontflip and landed behind him. He couldn't react quickly enough and found himself soaring toward Tamiya after Milly landed a well executed punch into his back. The black-haired girl was ready to intercept the boy and brought back her fist. Suddenly, a boy in black leaped in between the two girls and caught Ulrich, landing on the ground near the entrance of the factory. Milly and Tamiya watched William as he landed on the ground with Ulrich in his arms and were caught by surprise when two other girls emitted screams from the other side of them and kicked them hard in their chests. The two evil girls were sent flying and landed on either side of William and Ulrich. Sissi and Yumi gave each other a high-five and rand toward the entrance.

"You go, Sissi. I'll stay and help Ulrich," Yumi told the girl, who nodded, motioned William to follow, and ran inside. William pursued her and they leaped onto two ropes that hung from the ceiling inside the factory and descended to the floor. Then, they entered the elevator, which took them to the scanner room.

"Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Sissi," Jeremie said aloud at his console. "Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Sissi. Virtualization!" He punched a large key on his keyboard, eliminating the two student's existence on Earth and sending them into the computer. The two warriors virtualized above a grassy plane of the Forest Region and touched down on the ground below. "Listen everyone, deactivate the tower here as quickly as possible and then head to the Ice Sector where the other activated tower is," Jeremie said into his headset. Just then, Aelita stepped out of the elevator and into the lab. "Aelita, where have you been?"

She pointed a thumb behind her. "Ulrich's and Yumi's fight is taking up the whole bridge. It was difficult to get around," she answered with a smile.

"Hurry to the scanner room," the blonde responded. "We have two towers to deactivate so we have to hurry." Aelita nodded and about-faced, quickly making her way back into the elevator and to the scanner room. "Transfer, Aelita." The door to the scanner closed in front of her. "Scanner, Aelita. Virtualization!"

This time, Aelita appeared above the ground of the forest and landed behind Odd, who fired an arrow.

"Laser Arrow!" The projectile shot from his wrist and hit a Block square in its eye, easily dispatching it. He turned to face the pink-haired girl that had just arrived. "Good to see you, Princess," he said with a smile.

"I'll take this Tarantula!" Sissi shouted from behind a tree on the other side of the sliver of land that ran under the monsters in front of them and to the activated tower. She ran out and engaged the first of two Tarantulas. It got down on the knee of one back leg and lifted its front two, then immediately began to open fire. Sissi dodged the blasts as she ran. Odd stared at the magnificently beautiful girl with her pink halter top and twin color short spandex shorts. Her hair billowed as she ran in the single ponytail that ran down her neck. She removed the daggers that were strapped to her legs, holding them backwards in her hands, and slid under the monster on her back, feet first. Odd couldn't take his eyes off of her and, if there was virtual drool, it would have been running down his face. Aelita rolled her eyes and smacked the boy in the back of the head. He fell forward, barely regaining his balance before stumbling to the ground. He turned to the girl.

"What was that-"

"You were staring again," she interrupted, looking innocent. He growled in annoyance.

"Whatever," he said and took off toward the other Tarantula. Sissi slid under the monster and, once on the other side of it, flipped onto her stomach and slammed her daggers into the ground, which slowed down her momentum and brought her to a halt. Then she got up, pulled her weapons from the ground, and leaped onto the Tarantula's back, slinging her legs over its shoulders, and stabbed the blades of her daggers through its Eye. She quickly jumped off of it and landed in front of it as it exploded and vanished, leaving its counterpart alone. Odd took this one and ran toward it on all fours, dodging left, then right, alternating as laser blasts came toward him. He stopped and made a sharp turn toward a tree, then began to claw his way up it. The monster followed his movements and fired up the tree as Odd ascended. The cat-boy pushed off and flew into empty space high above the Tarantula, completely horizontal, and opened fire on it.

"Laser Arrow!" he shouted as his projectiles shot out and were planted in the Eye of the remaining monster, who exploded just as the first did. Odd landed on all fours next to Sissi and gave her a thumb up. She gave a flirtatious smile and winked at him. He stood up and put an arm around her waist and said, "That was some good fighting, Sissi." Aelita streamed past them and into the tower. She stopped in the center of the platform inside and waited for a moment. Then she tossed her head back and rose into the air. She preformed a backflip before landing on the second platform above and landed on it, causing it to glow. A screen appeared in front of her and she placed her hand on it. Her name appeared in capitol letters, then vanished, replaced by the word "CODE". After inputting "LYOKO", the virtual screens that circled the room around her dropped to the bottom.

"Tower deactivated," she said and jumped off the platform, slowly descending to the one below. She exited the tower to Sissi giving Odd a kiss on the cheek. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything," she said playfully. Odd and Sissi blushed.

"Um, well…" Odd began, stumbling over his words. "The second tower! Let's go!" he shouted finally and waited for his vehicle to appear.

**+XoX+**

Ulrich grabbed Milly's arm and tossed her toward the area where Yumi and Tamiya were fighting. Yumi did the same to her opponent and sent her flying toward Milly. The girls collided in mid air and stopped each other from advance, then they both hit the ground. Ulrich dropped to one knee and began to pant heavily. Yumi raised an eyebrow at him. _He's tired already? I've barely broken a sweat._ She ran over to him and kneeled down. "Are you alright?" she asked, concerned. He breathed heavily a couple times before answering.

"Yeah… I'm… I'm fine," he said with great effort and managed to stand back up. Yumi nodded, still a little worried, and turned back to the girls. Tamiya stood back up, but Milly remained on the ground.

"They must've deactivated one of the towers," Yumi said reassuringly. "You rest up; I'll hold off Tamiya." Ulrich nodded and dropped back down on one knee. Yumi shot him a quick glance before turning her attention over to the black-haired girl in front of her. They ran toward each other, Tamiya stopping just short of the girl. Yumi kept going and threw a punch. Tamiya ducked and struck with her own punch into Yumi's stomach. The black-clad girl barely had time to hunch over in pain before her opponent seized the opportunity and executed an uppercut, sending Yumi backward. She landed on her back and stayed there until the X.A.N.A. possessed girl approached her and stood next to her. Then Yumi did a sweep kick and knocked Tamiya off her feet. Before hitting the ground, Yumi planted her hands on the ground behind her, lifted her body into the air, and kicked the falling girl in the stomach. Tamiya flew back several feet before landing on the ground next to her once mobile red-haired friend. Yumi stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. _I hope they hurry up._

**+XoX+**

Odd, Sissi, and Aelita ran out of the white tower in the Ice Sector and looked around. "The activated tower should be north of you," Jeremie said from his console. The three immediately took off toward the tower.

Three quarters of the way there, Sissi decided to speak up. "No monster, what a break." As usual with these statements, she spoke too soon. Seconds after her comment, several lasers fired from the ground in front of them, followed by two large, mechanical legs. Then two more emerged, followed by the body of the Krabe. "Oops, I guess I spoke too soon," Sissi commented guiltily.

"Don't sweat it," Odd said consolingly. "I do it all the time." He readied his gauntlet for firing when more lasers fired from the ground around them. Three more Krabes drew themselves from the ground equidistant around them. "Um, Jeremie, we've got a problem." Suddenly, a purple board appeared before him, hovering above the ground, and another floating vehicle next to it. Odd and Aelita jumped onto the board while Sissi took charge of the Overwing, but before they could get anywhere, their vehicles were shot down by the Krabes and their riders fell to the ground. "Alright, four Krabes and no vehicles. Piece of cake!" Odd said confidently, him and Sissi attempting to shield Aelita. The monsters began to fire on them, Odd taking a shot in the leg and arm.

"Odd, be careful!" Jeremie shouted.

"Don't worry, I still have, um…" He counted on his fingers. "Eighty life points?"

"It's simple math!" Jeremie yelled in frustration, but soon became frightened when the Lyoko Card of the purple-clad cat on his screen vanished.

"No!" Aelita and Sissi yelled in unison as Odd's virtual wireframe vanished. Sissi pulled out her daggers and ran under one of the Krabes. Then she jumped into the air, flipping sideways so her back was parallel and facing the ground, and jabbed her daggers through the bottom of the monster. It, stumbled about a bit, trying to regain its composure, giving Sissi the perfect opportunity to drop from its underside and leap on top of it. Then she stabbed its Eye, causing the Krabe to explode. She was met with laser fire in midair from the other monsters, so when she finally hit the ground, she was being devirtualized. Aelita stood by herself, surrounded by the three remaining Krabes, and heard the familiar cry of the Scyphozoa as it approached.

"Hang on, Aelita!" Jeremie yelled into his headset. "Virtualization!" Another Lyoko warrior appeared and landed in between Aelita and the monster that wanted to steal her memory. He was dressed in all black: His top with shoulders that fanned out slightly and zipped up the center; his slightly baggy pants; his boots; even his hair. He also sported four chains, two that crossed in an X across his chest and one wrapped around each bicep. He quickly pulled one of them off that was wrapped around his body, and his clothing, including his hair, became a brilliant yellow and electricity danced about his hand-held chain. He charged at the Scyphozoa and lashed at it a few times with his weapon, each time an electric current surging through it. The monster soon backed off and retreated, leaving the Krabes to take him out. William turned to face the three monsters and smirked, wrapping the chain back around his body and pulling the one off of his left arm. This time, his outfit's color became a frosty white and his chain iced over. The Krabes fired at William, who swung his chain in spirals in front of him, parallel to his body. The laser beams froze on impact and shattered into pieces as they connected with the spinning weapon. The monsters, seeing their efforts futile, momentarily ceased fire, leaving the perfect opportunity for him to attack. He ran toward one of the Krabes and wrapped his chain around it. In seconds, it completely froze over, and William put away his weapon. He pulled the one off of his other arm and fiery red replaced the white, flames streaming down his chain. He made quick work of the frozen Krabe, shattering it to pieces on contact with his chain, and ran toward the other one. A quick strike through two of its legs caused the monster to drop to the ground, completely defenseless. The remaining Krabe came to its rescue, firing at William who ran past the one on the ground. The laser shots connected with its Eye, destroying it. William blazed with confidence now, wrapping his chain around his right arm and pulling one off of his chest. Finally, his clothing and hair turned brown and his chain's texture turned to that of dirt. He ran toward the last Krabe, taking a shot to the arm before leaping into the air. Then he came down on it like a ton of bricks, slamming his chain onto the top of the monster. The Earth power of the attack was so strong that it forced the Krabe through the ice and into the digital sea below. William replaced his weapon before landing and his theme became black again. Aelita gave him a smile and took off toward the tower again.

"William, that was magnificent!" Jeremie shouted in excitement as Aelita deactivated the second tower. A few minutes later, she and William were back in the lab with Sissi, Odd, and Jeremie. Soon, Yumi stepped out of the elevator, but with Ulrich unconscious on her back. "Yumi, what's wrong with Ulrich?"

"I don't know," she replied with much worry in her voice.


	3. Chapter Two: Head Trauma

**Chapter 2: Head Trauma**

Ulrich opened his eyes at the sound of a knock on his door. "It's open," he said with a yawn. The knob turned and the door parted slightly. A black-haired girl poked her head in and smiled, then opened the door the rest of the way. Ulrich sat up as she walked in and took a seat on his bed next to him. Then she lay down across his lap and stared into his eyes. For a while, they were silent and, only when Yumi placed a hand on the boy's cheek, did she break the silence.

"Ulrich?"

"Yeah?" he replied, urging her to continue. She waited for a moment.

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do!" he exclaimed, confused why she was asking him this. After all they've been through, and his previous proclamation of his love, didn't she understand?

"Would you," she began and sat up, planting her hand behind her on the bed for support, "kill for me?" Ulrich drew back in surprise.

"Um… Yumi…" His expression became one of anger when the familiar Eye of X.A.N.A. replaced her pupils. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and slammed her body to the floor. "Get out of her!" he yelled with fury. She merely smiled at him.

"But Ulrich, my love, you did before; even your own best friends. You almost killed them for me. So," she grabbed his arm, pulled it off of her, and sat up, "why not again?" Suddenly, Ulrich's head began to throb in immense pain. She let go of him and he immediately placed both his hands against his head to suppress the pain. He screamed as loud as humanly possible, putting as much pressure on his head as he could. "It's alright, my love," Yumi said and electricity emitted around her body. "It will all be over soon."

Ulrich sat up quickly, screaming. Then he stopped, panting hard, and heard a rapid succession of beeps. As he calmed his breathing, the pulsating beeps became farther and farther apart. He looked about the room now, taking in his surroundings, and noticed that he was lying in a bed. It wasn't his bed, though, and, not only was he not in his bed, he wasn't even in his own room. He lifted his arm to rub his head and felt a tug on his hand. A quick glance at the back of it and he saw a needle. A tube ran from it and he followed it up to a bag that hung above him. Now he understood where he was, checking his clothing just to clarify. Just as he thought: The usual light-blue hospital garb. _I'm… in the hospital?_ He shook his head and finally noticed the girl that sat beside his hospital bed, sleeping. "Hey Yumi," he said quietly and shook her arm with gentle force. She stirred and opened her eyes and stared at him for a moment, as if not quite knowing where she was. Then she gasped, jumped from her chair, and wrapped her arms around him.

"Ulrich! Oh my God, are you OK?" she asked desperately and squeezed him tightly.

He made several failed attempts to take in air before saying: "Not very good beside manner there, huh?" in a choked voice. Yumi, noticing the magnitude of her embrace, let go of him and sat back down.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, slightly less anxious this time.

"I'm OK," he replied with a smile. "What happened exactly?" Yumi frowned and her eyes began to tear.

"You were passed out for two days!" she answered.

"Were you here the whole time?" he asked, feeling bad about having her go through what was happening to him.

"Of course! I couldn't even sleep the first night!" she told him. "I was so worried." She put her face into his lap and began to cry. Ulrich put his hand on the back of her head.

"It's alright," he said consolingly. "I'm fine now." She sat back up and smiled. Then she stood up, gave him a hug and a quick kiss, and left the room. Within a few hours, Ulrich was back in his dormitory room, surrounded by his very concerned friends. When questioned about his condition, he just answered "fine" and they soon dropped it, and they all cast the thought aside. All except for Jeremie.

"According to Yumi, you didn't fight so hard that you would've fainted," he said to the brown-haired boy.

"It was a tough fight and besides, I was already tired from all of your cousin's exercises," Ulrich replied, slightly annoyed. He felt a small headache and put his hands on the sides of his head.

**+XoX+**

"Ulrich, don't you think what's going on here is bigger than you two?"

"I hate you! I hate you and that bastard X.A.N.A.!"

**+XoX+**

Ulrich let out a quite moan, stood up, and left the room as quickly as possible, leaving the others there to contemplate exactly what had just happened. _What's going on with me?_ The boy stumbled down the hallway, not sure where he was going, but he was going and that was all that mattered. _I need to get away from them for a while._ He shook his head, regaining total control of his movements, and left the building into the school yard. When lunch came around, he wouldn't sit with the others. In fact, he sat on the opposite side of the room, just to avoid Jeremie's, and, probably at this point, the others' questioning.

"I'm really worried," Aelita said aloud, looking across the cafeteria at Ulrich.

"He's trying to avoid me asking him about what's been going on," Jeremie replied, placing a meatball in his mouth. Yumi turned from Ulrich to Jeremie.

"Maybe we should just leave him alone for a while," she told him. Everyone nodded, except for the blonde, who just stared at his tray.

"Jeremie," Aelita said quietly. He finally nodded as well.

"OK, we'll leave him alone."

**+XoX+**

Everything returned to normal for the next few days. Ulrich no longer had his headaches or visions of two months earlier, and the rest of the gang no longer asked him about his condition, mostly because of their pact, but also because of just seeing that he was feeling better. There wasn't even a X.A.N.A. attack since Ulrich's episode. The boy decided that he was well enough to go to work and went into town. After a short walk from the school, he stopped at his destination, marked by a sign that read "Sensei Belpois's Dojo". Ulrich stepped inside, causing bells to ring when the door opened, and was greeted almost instantly by the dojo master. The Sensei didn't look anything like his cousin. He had long, blonde hair that extended to his waist and had no glasses. His outfit was merely black karate clothing.Xavier bowed to him as did Ulrich, who bowed deeper.

"Good to see you on your feet, young Stern," the man said in a calm voice.

"Thank you, Sensei," Ulrich replied humbly. The man stood up full height.

"Now, fifty push-ups." The bow immediately dropped to his stomach and pushed off the ground with his arms. He repeated this pattern several more times with Xavier standing over him, watching his performance. After he finished, he stood up and bowed. Xavier stared at him for a moment before saying, "Poor technique; again!" Ulrich did as he was told and dropped to the ground again without a word. When he finished his assignment, Sensei Belpois gave him several more warm-ups. "Very good," Xavier told him on his completion and the boy headed outside for a jog. He returned slightly exhausted, but ready to go. "Take a break before the students," he said and turned to exit the room.

"Um, Sensei," Ulrich said and bowed. Xavier stopped and waited for him to continue. "I was wondering if I could spar with you." The Sensei stood there for a moment, contemplating.

"Fifty push-ups," he said, finally.

"But…"

"Eighty," he said over his shoulder and walked into the back room. Ulrich growled quietly, but performed his commanded task.

**+XoX+**

"You know what, Jeremie," Ulrich said, lying on the computer genius's bed just before dinner. "I really hate your cousin." Jeremie chuckled.

"Better be careful; he's almost as smart as I am," he said while typing at his computer.

"Yeah, and twenty times more athletic," Ulrich replied.

"Hey, don't say that!" Odd cut in. "Twenty times zero is still zero!" He and Ulrich laughed, giving each other high-fives. Jeremie turned from his screen, not looking very amused.

"Haha," he said sarcastically. "Did you do that all in your head?" Odd stopped laughing and let out a "hmph".

"Well, he needs to cut me some slack," Ulrich told him. "It's like he doesn't care that I was in the hospital for the past couple days!" Jeremie turned back to his computer and resumed typing.

"Don't expect me to do anything about it; I don't have time for that," was all he could offer in the way of help. Ulrich decided that he should leave, stood up, said goodbye to the two boys, and left the room.

_I should go see Yumi._ He left the school grounds and began walking down the sidewalk. It was a nice day and X.A.N.A. seemed unusually quite. A few minutes later and he was standing at the front gate to Yumi's house and stepped inside. He lifted his hand to knock on her door when he suddenly started feeling strange. His head began to hurt slightly. _Is it happening again?_ The pain began to get worse and, eventually, it became so bad that he fell to his knees. There was a thud as his body slammed against the door to Yumi's house before he finally hit the ground.

**+XoX+**

"I can give you powers, your powers. Then they'll be easy to take care of, won't they?"

**+XoX+**

Yumi looked up from her novel after hearing something at her door. She quickly got up and made her way to the front of the house. Then she opened the door and attempted to find the source of the noise. She was about to return inside when she looked down and gasped. "Ulrich!"


	4. Chapter Three: Sector 6

**Chapter 3: Sector 6**

"This goes beyond any normal illness." Ulrich awoke, but kept his eyes shut and listened. "There's something wrong with him."

"The doctors said it was just a faint. Plus, it's only happened twice."

'Yeah, and he seemed fine all the way up until tonight."

"Unless there's something he's not telling us."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if this isn't the second time. What if it's happened more than twice?" Yumi shouted in response to Odd's question.

"Like I said, this isn't normal," Jeremie said. Ulrich opened his eyes now and sat up slowly. The other six people sitting around his room stared at him and there was an awkward silence until he decided to break it.

"Um, what's up guys?"

"Ulrich, what's going on?" Jeremie asked from Odd's bed. Ulrich, who once thought that the questioning was over, stood up and approached the door.

"There's nothing going on," he said quietly over his shoulder and left the room, slamming the door behind him. As he stormed down the hallway, thoughts flooded his head. _What _is _going on?_ He needed to know what was happening to him, but didn't dare confide in his friends. The front gate of the school drew closer as he approached it, but was stopped by a shadowy figure before leaving.

**+XoX+**

"I don't get it!" Jeremie exclaimed in frustration. "We already know that something is wrong with him so why won't he let us help?" The other's dropped their gazes to the floor and all tried to figure out what was going on.

"You don't think this has anything to do with X.A.N.A., do you?" Aelita finally asked the boy. Jeremie shook his head.

"I don't think so; he's been quiet," he replied.

"But kind of unusually quite, don't you think?" William chimed in. Jeremie thought on this.

"Maybe," Sissi began, garnering the attention of the others, "this has something to do with what happened a couple months ago. When X.A.N.A. got out." Jeremie stared at her for a moment and his eyes lit up.

"What if, he was wrong...?"

**+XoX+**

The man in front of Ulrich wore a white trench coat with an upturned collar and a snow cap on the top of his head. He also wore black leather pants, top, and boots. His blonde hair rested on the back of his coat.

"You're not feeling too well, are you?" Xavier asked in a smarmy voice.

"Lay off, Xavier," Ulrich told the boy. The dojo master chuckled.

"I would be cautious," the man said, walking down the sidewalk. Ulrich just scoffed and started in the opposite direction. "You could be having X.A.N.A. problems." Ulrich gasped and turned around, but Xavier was nowhere in sight.

"X.A.N.A." he said to himself. _How could he know about X.A.N.A.?_ He looked back to the school. _Did Jeremie tell him?_ The thought of his Sensei somehow having the knowledge of X.A.N.A. plagued his mind as he walked down the sidewalk. Xavier watched the clearly confused boy from a nearby rooftop and chuckled.

**+XoX+**

"When we sealed X.A.N.A. back into the Super Computer, Ulrich told me that he wasn't being controlled but, on the contrary, attacked us on his own," Jeremie explained. "I think he was wrong and maybe he was under X.A.N.A.'s control."

"But that's crazy," Aelita countered. "It's been two months; why would he suddenly begin experiencing problems now?" Jeremie put a hand to his chin, deep in thought.

"Yeah, that would be kind of strange," Odd added. "Maybe your cousin's just working him too hard."

"Alright, so my theory's flawed, but," Jeremie replied, standing up from his chair and pushing his glasses up his face, "what if it's true."

"There's only one way to find out," Aelita said. "We'll have to analyze him in a scanner." Yumi jumped off the bed and onto her feet.

"Let's go then! We have to help him!" she exclaimed and ran out the door. She poked her head back in and added, "Go to the factory. I'll find Ulrich and meet you there." Then she took off again, out of the dormitory, across the school yard, and out of the front gate. She traversed across town, covering every square inch possible.

**+XoX+**

_Maybe I misheard him. I mean, how could he possibly know about X.A.N.A.?_ Ulrich stopped and looked across the street at Sensei Belpois's Dojo. _Maybe I should ask Jeremie about it._ He turned around and began to head back to Kadic, cooled down and ready to talk about what's been happening. _They just want to help; I should talk to them._ He was about halfway back to school when he spotted someone running down the sidewalk, waving and calling out to him. "Who's that?" he asked himself.

"Ulrich!" Yumi called out to the boy. He smiled on recognition of the figure, occasionally made visible in the darkness through the lamplight.

"Yu-Ahhh!" Ulrich dropped to his knees, screaming in pain, and grabbed his head. Yumi picked up her pace, running at him as fast as she could.

"Ulrich!" she called out again, this time in distress, watching as the boy struggled with himself on the pavement. _Almost there…_ Then she hit the ground herself and let out a short scream. She slowly lifted her head and saw her attacker, who walked over to the passed out Ulrich and slung the boy over his shoulder. She couldn't make out who it was, only seeing his white coat as he ran off with Ulrich. Yumi just laid there for a minute before gaining enough strength to stand up again. _That hurt._ She wobbled a bit then regained her balance. Her eyes widened and she looked around franticly. "Ulrich!" she yelled, glancing down the street. "Where did that guy take him?" she asked herself and started toward the factory, still hurting from her fall. _I need to tell the others._

**+XoX+**

"I can't believe this!" Odd yelled and slammed his fists on the door of Jeremie's dorm.

"Somebody didn't want us getting to the factory," William said, attempting to help Odd pull open the door.

"Ulrich?" Sissi asked, turning to Jeremie.

"I don't know," the blonde replied in confusion. Odd and William stopped and turned around. With a quick glance at each other and a smirk, they ran full force toward the window and jumped. The others gasped as the glass shattered, littering the floor, and the two boys flew from the building. Aelita, Sissi, and Jeremie ran to the window and watched as the other two landed in a nearby tree. They grinned at their friends at the window pane and gave thumbs up, then climbed down. The remaining three students jumped out of the dormitory in succession with the others below to catch them. After they all successfully escaped, they made their way toward the woods.

**+XoX+**

Yumi crossed the bridge into the factory and grabbed onto one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling. She slid down and jumped off of it, sliding across the floor on her feet. After coming to a stop, she was about to enter the elevator, but noticed it was missing. _They can't even send it back up for me?_ She pressed the button on one of the elevator support beams and waited. The familiar sound of the pulley's lifting the elevator emitted from deep inside the shaft and, after a few seconds, the elevator came to a halt before her. She stepped inside and punched another button, this time sending the lift down. Another press of the button and the elevator stopped. She opened the console on the wall and punched in a code, causing the doors to part in front of her. "Sorry I'm late everyone," she said, walking over to the computer. "Something happened to… hey, is anyone here?" She approached Jeremie's console and instinctively glanced at the screen. There were numbers on it, and they were… _A countdown?_ They reached zero and two figures appeared on the screen: one she didn't recognize, but the other was Ulrich garbed in his Lyoko samurai outfit. "He's being transferred!" she yelled aloud and heard the scanners whir below as they sent the two people depicted on the monitor to the virtual world. The girl was about to remove her cell phone from her pocket when the elevator door opened. Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Sissi, and William stepped into the lab, spotting Yumi in Einstein's chair.

"Yumi, where's Ulrich?" Jeremie asked, raising an eyebrow. Yumi dropped her head for a moment and masked her face with an expression of worry.

"He passed out again," she replied. "Then someone took him. I think he took Ulrich to Lyoko!" The others looked at her in disbelief.

"Someone took him to Lyoko?" Jeremie asked, as if she didn't mean what she said. He shook the doubt from his head and ran over to his console. "He is in Lyoko," he finally said after much typing. "But, their transfer coordinates," he turned to the others with worry in his eyes, "aren't in any sector."

"What do you mean?" Odd asked. "How can he not be in a sector?"

"I… I don't know…" Jeremie replied. Aelita contemplated for a moment.

"Well, last time someone 'wasn't in a sector', they were in a new sector," she said, pointing to herself on the word "someone". "So what if Ulrich's in a new sector?"

"Impossible," Jeremie said, not as confidently as the others were sure he was trying to sound.

"And why is it?" Odd cut in, not convinced of Jeremie's theory. "You have to send us to Lyoko so we can find Ulrich!"

"Odd's right," Aelita concurred. "We should find Ulrich instead of tossing theories back and forth." Jeremie stared at his monitor, unsure of what to do. "Jeremie," she said, walking up to him, "please." The boy let out a sigh.

"Alright, everyone to the scanner room," he said and began typing. "Except Aelita."

"But Jeremie…"

"No, we need to get Ulrich back, not deactivate a tower. I don't want you to be in any danger," Jeremie told her sternly.

"He's right, Aelita," Yumi said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Once we get Ulrich back, we can explore together. No offense, but we don't want to have to worry about you and him." Aelita nodded in disappointment. The other four ran into the elevator and descended into the scanner room.

"Yumi and William first," Jeremie said into his headset. The two Lyoko Warriors did as the disembodied voice said and stepped into the scanners. "Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, William." He typed rapidly at his console. "Scanner. Virtualization!" One last tap of a key on his keyboard and they were being sent to Lyoko. They virtualized and dropped, but nothing was below them. They screamed as they fell, dropping through virtual clouds with no sign of anything to break their fall.

"Jeremie, what's going on?" Yumi managed to yell at the boy. Jeremie typed, examining the contents of his screen, but unable to discover what was happening.

"Oh no, I was afraid of this," he said. "I think I may have sent you into a part of the computer outside of Lyoko."

"Great, now what?" William asked.

"Well, you'll probably keep falling until I devirtualize you, so I'm going to have to… hey," something appeared on his screen, stopping him in mid-sentence.

"What is it, Jeremie," Aelita asked beside him. Jeremie typed without an answer.

"There," he finally replied, tapping one last key. William and Yumi suddenly stopped their downward motion in midair and, after a few seconds, something below them suddenly began to form. A wireframe floor spread out, then turned upward, and finally closed around them. Then it turned to what appeared to be concrete and they landed on their feet on the ground.

"Jeremie, what is this?" Yumi asked, looking around in astonishment as doors suddenly began lining the walls in even intervals down the seemingly never-ending hallway.

"Apparently," Jeremie started and pushed his glasses up his nose, "this is Sector 6."

"What did you do exactly?" Aelita asked him in confusion.

"Transfer. Scanner. Virtualization!" Odd and Sissi were sent through the scanners and appeared above the floor of Sector 6. They landed next to Yumi and William and looked around in amazement. "Well," Jeremie began, turning to the pink-haired girl, "I noticed this encryption." He pointed to the screen on his right. "After I cracked it, Sector 6 opened up."

"Jeremie, you're such a genius," Aelita said with glee and gave him a kiss. Jeremie blushed slightly and continued typing.

"Hey Einstein, what's this?" Odd asked, pointing at one of the doors. Jeremie brought up a window with the Sector on his monitor and gasped.

"This is crazy; look at all of the markers!" he exclaimed. Aelita took a look and gasped as well.

"What does that mean?" she asked, staring at the many green dots that ran in a straight line off his screen.

"Jeremie, this can't be good," Sissi said, peering through the metal bars on one of the doors. The others congregated around her and took a look as well. They didn't expect what they saw, though: a figure shackled to the wall, unconscious. Yumi ran up to the bars.

"Ulrich!"


	5. Chapter Four: XAvier NAthaniel Belpois

**Chapter 4: XAvier NAthaniel Belpois**

Yumi grabbed onto the virtual bars that blocked off the only window into Ulrich's cell. "Ulrich, wake up!" the girl yelled, but to no avail; he just hung there, lifeless.

"Who are all of these other people?" William asked, looking into the other prison cells. Everyone but Yumi examined the containment unit that William was referring to, as well as a few others.

"I have no idea. Hey Einstein!" Odd shouted at the ceiling. "What's going on?" Jeremie stared at his monitor for a moment, typed, and then went back to typing before finally speaking.

"I… I don't know," he said into his headset. "Is it secure in there?"

"It's all clear, Jeremie," Sissi said, looking down the endless corridor, then down the other direction, which only extended a few feet from the first cell where Yumi stood before becoming a dead end. Jeremie turned in his chair to Aelita.

"I want you to go and give me a visual," he told her. She nodded, but not with as much enthusiasm as would have been the case before she obtained the knowledge of what was discovered in the mysterious Sector 6.

"OK," she said and made for the elevator. After a quick descent, she exited into the scanner room and climbed into one of the pillars.

"Virtualization!" A screen appeared on Jeremie's monitor after Aelita finished her virtualization procedure, the contents bearing what the girl was seeing with her own eyes.

"This is really weird," the boy said on viewing the various prisoners in their cells. "OK, I want someone to stay with Ulrich. The rest of you go explore." Yumi raised her hand.

"I'll stay," she said and looked at Ulrich with worry in her eyes.

"Should've seen that one coming," Odd said under his breath, getting a laugh from Sissi. Yumi gave him a glare and the joking stopped.

"Alright, go one," Jeremie commanded from his console. The four other Lyoko Warriors did so, starting down the long hallway. As they passed each cell, they glanced inside. Even Jeremie was confused as to what was going on as he stared at the prisoners through Aelita's eyes. With about ten minutes of walking, they reached the end of the corridor. It branched off in a T shape, forking left and right. Dead in front of them was another cell door, but this one was different. Instead of being a rusty, iron looking door, it was gold.

"Hey, why's this one different," William asked aloud examining the windowless door. Jeremie typed at his computer.

"I'll see if I can figure out who's behind…" he said, but stopped mid-sentence at the sight of a green marker coming up his screen behind the others. "Yumi, why aren't you with Ulrich?"

"I am with Ulrich; I've been standing here for fifteen minutes!" she replied and looked at the motionless body of Ulrich.

"That's not you?" Jeremie asked and began typing frantically. After a few seconds, "Guys, I don't know who it is, but someone is coming up behind you!"

**+XoX+**

Yumi wouldn't take her eyes off the love of her life, but didn't necessarily have him on her mind. _I wonder what's going on. Why did Jeremie think that I was with the others?_ "Ulrich, why won't you wake up?" she asked and water formed in her eyes. Tears slid down her face. _This is a nightm… wait…_ She lifted her hand and wiped the tears from her face. _I'm crying? This is Lyoko; I shouldn't have tears._ She ran her hand across the wall. _I can feel it._ She turned her head to the sky. "Hey, Jeremie!" There wasn't an answer. Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded down the hall and a bolt of lightning streamed down past her and into the dead end of the corridor. With one last glance at Ulrich, she took off in the direction the electricity came from. Next, two Arrows came her way and she barely dodged them in time as they flew past her head. She pressed on harder down the hallway until five figures finally came into view. Yumi was able to make them out several seconds later: Odd, Sissi, William, Aelita, and… _That guy that kidnapped Ulrich!_ She came to a halt several feet away from the man, who was now trapped between her and the others. "Jeremie, that's the guy-"

"I know," Jeremie said.

"Who is that?" Yumi asked him. He was clad in the same white trench coat he had earlier, but no cap. His blonde hair hung down behind him, partially covering the dark-blue X.A.N.A. Eye on his back. He turned around to face her and smirked. It was a scary grin, evil. The coat he wore was open, revealing his shirt and baggy shorts, which were the same color as his Eye. Bandages covered his legs from under his shorts to his ankles. On his feet, he sported shinobi style sandals with open toes and on his hands, fingerless, dark-blue gloves. He tossed off his coat and it fell to the floor. The bandages that ran up his arms from his wrists were now visible and added to his overall frightening image.

"The name's Xavier," the man said in a deep, menacing voice. Yumi gasped and looked to the ceiling.

"Jeremie?"

"Yes, that's him," Jeremie replied. Yumi stared back at Xavier.

"But, why is your cousin here?" she asked to nobody in particular. The man laughed, causing Yumi to shiver. _This guy's creepy._

"What? Jeremie didn't tell you? Or maybe, he's just not smart enough to figure it out," he said smugly.

"Jeremie, what's he talking about?" Sissi asked.

"I have no idea," he replied and just stared at his monitor. Xavier laughed again.

"Figures," he said with arrogance in his voice. "I'm surprised he found the Prison Sector to begin with."

"Prison Sector?" Odd said and looked around.

"It looks like your friends aren't too bright either, huh?" Xavier said, looking at the ceiling. Then he turned around and faced Odd. "Take a look around you; hundreds of prisoners are held here. What more of a fitting name than the Prison Sector?" he told the boy, clearly trying to get him and the others riled up. "I obviously gave you too much credit, little cousin. I guess I'll have to explain everything myself." He pointed at Aelita before he began.

"You, girl, you don't remember who I am, do you?" he asked her. She stared at him and didn't answer.

"How could she?" Jeremie answered for her. "Even if she did have her memory, she never met you before. That would be impossible."

"Oh, would it?" Xavier replied, causing Jeremie drew back in surprise. "With your intelligence, I'm surprised you can tie your shoes much less tell me that Aelita never met me. Now let's see, I'll walk you through it little cousin." Jeremie growled with anger. "I'm twenty-three, so eleven years twelve years ago, I was eleven. How old do you think that made Aelita?"

"Aelita's only twelve; she wouldn't have even been alive!" William yelled at the man.

"Actually, Aelita would have been eleven as well," Jeremie interrupted. His friends on Lyoko gasped. "After reading through Franz Hopper's diary, I discovered that she was virtualized into Lyoko along with himself, and that," he paused to regain is composure, 'was ten years ago."

"Again with the surprises, Jeremie," Xavier said in his smug tone. "You actually decoded his diary." Jeremie growled again. "I'm sure Jeremie was even able to figure out that you don't age on Lyoko. That, combined with the Super Computer being shut down for ten years, caused Aelita not to age." Odd couldn't help but make a joke here.

"Jeremie, that would make Aelita kind of old for you, huh?" he asked with a giggle. The others glared at him, then diverted their attention back to Xavier.

"Indeed it would, but take a guess at who was the right age for her before she was virtualized," he said. Jeremie thought for a moment.

"No way…" he said in disbelief.

"She seems to fall for Belpois'. You're still as beautiful as you were the day I met you," he said turning to Aelita. "It's just a shame you lost your memory; you can't even remember your own boyfriend." Jeremie's built up anger completely spilled over at Xavier's last comment.

"Shut up!" he yelled with his pent up fury. "Someone take him down!" Everyone was stunned by what the Belpois cousins had both just said and didn't move an inch. After a few minutes of silence, Xavier examined an imaginary watch on his wrist.

"Well, it's getting to be about that time," he said, and began to reach into a pouch strapped around his waist.

"Wait," Yumi said. Xavier stopped moving and stood still. "Can I ask you something? These people…" The man chuckled quietly, then began full blown laughing hysterically.

"These people; I suppose X.A.N.A. won't mind if I tell you," he replied. "Every one of them was responsible for the creation of Carthage. From the engineers to the programmers, they're all here." He lifted his arm and pointed to the gold door. "Even Dr. Hopper." Aelita gasped and turned to him.

"My father?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, even daddy," he said, lightly mocking the girl. He finished putting his hand into his pouch and pulled out a metal, star-shaped object. With a flick of his wrist, he was now holding four and he quickly flung them in the direction of Odd, William, Sissi, and Aelita. The four managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid them. Xavier turned around to Yumi at hearing the whirring sound of one of her fans as it drew near him. He pulled another object out of his pouch, a dagger-like weapon, and deflected the fan before it struck him in his face.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd yelled out, launching three of the golden projectiles at Xavier, who dropped to the ground on his own accord to avoid them. Yumi once again barely dodged them as they came toward her. Then she ran at the man as he sat up into a squatting position. She got close to him, but her thoughts of attacking were diminished when he stood up and grabbed her throat. He squeezed hard, suffocating all of the air from her. He smiled as she gasped for breath, but soon found himself flying against the wall. He hit it hard and landed on the ground. William stood behind where Xavier once was, his clothing and hair dark-brown. The man stood up with a grunt and shook his head. His attacker wrapped his chain around his body and drew the other one that crossed his chest, causing his clothing and hair to become yellow. Yumi joined him and they regrouped with Odd, Sissi, and Aelita near Franz Hopper's cell. Suddenly, there was a loud rumble at the end of the corridor where Ulrich's cell was. Xavier looked surprised at first, but then began laughing evilly. He didn't continue the attack, giving the Lyoko Warriors time to catch their breath. This ended up being time wasted, however, when the outline of a figure formed in the distance of the hallway, slightly illuminated by a yellow trail that seemed to follow it.

"Is everything OK, guys?" Jeremie asked as he watched another green marker moved across his screen toward the others.

"Not anymore," Odd said seriously as a yellow and brown-clad samurai stopped running next to Xavier.

"Ulrich?" Yumi asked in disbelief. "You're OK!" Xavier smirked at her.

"Don't get too excited; he doesn't look very happy to see you," the man said. Yumi looked into Ulrich's face for a moment and noticed his eyes, full of fire and furry.

"Ulrich, what's wrong?" He stared at her, X.A.N.A.'s Eye replacing his pupils.

"So Jeremie couldn't figure that out either? Typical…" Xavier said and let out a sigh. "Two months ago, you don't really think that Ulrich was doing what X.A.N.A. wanted on his own did you? No, X.A.N.A. infected him."

"I knew it!" Jeremie exclaimed.

"Great, so if you knew it, why didn't you fix it? You can't even cure Aelita of her virus. Oh, which, by the way, isn't a virus, not that I'd expect you to know?"

"What did you say?" Jeremie yelled.

"Times up, I'll take my leave now," Xavier said and turned back down the corridor that Ulrich had just come up. "I'll let you kids have some fun." With that, he took off running down the hallway and out of sight. Odd took a step to pursue him, but stopped when Ulrich drew his blade.

"Oh great, Déjà vu!" Odd said.

"Ulrich, come one, pull yourself together!" Yumi yelled at the boy. He just stood there with his blade drawn. Then he planted a foot behind him and prepared to attack.


	6. Chapter Five: Virtual Death Bed

**Chapter 5: Virtual Death Bed**

Yumi approached the virtual samurai in front of her. Ulrich charged at the girl, slashing his sword at her, and she was only just able to parry his attack with her fan. She jumped a few feet backward and joined the others. Odd lifted his arm and began to take aim. Yumi held her arm in front of him and shook her head.

"No Odd," she said quietly. "I noticed earlier that everything here feels real. That may go for attacks as well."

"So what if he gets hurt. I'll feel bad," he lined up his gauntlet with Ulrich's body, "but at least we can take him down and find out what's wrong with him." Then he proceeded to unleash a barrage of Laser Arrows at the boy, who deflected them away with his sword. William went on the offensive now, the yellow-clad boy running at Ulrich. The X.A.N.A. infested child made several swiping motions at his opponent with his blade. William, holding his chain in both hands, parried the attacks. Ulrich brought his sword down in a vertical attack and William blocked the blade. Then he wrapped his chain around it and smirked. With a yell, he sent electricity surging into Ulrich through the conductivity of his weapon. He leapt backward and dropped to one knee from the shock. He looked up at William and growled.

"Triangulate!" he yelled and began running around William. Three Ulrich's appeared to be standing equilaterally around him, and several more running from Ulrich to Ulrich in a straight line. They moved so fast that he could decide to attack and, on the few attempts he took, missed. Finally, the trick halted and all three Ulrich's jumped from the illusion and jumped at the center point of their formation. William closed his eyes, waiting for the oncoming attack, but was delighted to hear a clash of metal and opened his eyes. What he saw was truly amazing.

_I was saved by women; that's embarrassing_. Sissi stood in front of him with her daggers out, Yumi with a fan, and Aelita far feet from the fight with a wall that she had just created. All three were blocking Ulrich's further advancement on William, who grinned, put away his chain, and drew one from his arm, causing his ensemble to become white. Yumi drew a second fan and began attacking from close range, slashing at Ulrich with her tessans. Sissi opened up an assault on her Ulrich, slashing at him several times with her weapons with lightning speed.

"Jeremie!" Odd yelled at the ceiling. "Aelita's not looking so good." Jeremie looked at his screen, seeing the girl's life points drop by fifty after she preformed her Creativity.

_That's normal, unless…_ "Aelita, don't use your Creativity!" Jeremie shouted. An exhausted Aelita, who was on one knee and panting, looked upward. "Life points being lost here is like draining your life force! Lose them all and you will die!"

"This is unbelievable!" Yumi yelled, pushing Ulrich backwards. The boy stumbled to a halt, attempting to regain his balance. "What kind of place is this?"

"It's a prison; I suppose Xavier didn't want any of his prisoners to get out alive, if they managed to escape," Jeremie replied.

"That's going to make stopping Ulrich much more difficult," William said, lashing out at the Ulrich that was stopped by Aelita's geomancy. He dodged every one of the white-haired boy's attacks and parried the final one. William stepped back and rejoined Yumi and Sissi, who had stopped fighting as well. The Ulrich William was fighting ran toward them in supersprint and attempted an attack on Yumi. She dropped down on her back, dodging the attack, and lifted her feet. They connected with the boy's stomach and she flung him over her body. He did a full front flip before landing on his back with his two look-a-likes. Then he stood up, shook his head, and readied his sword.

"Jeremie, do you know which one's are real?" Sissi asked. Jeremie began typing.

"One second… Ok, the one in the middle is real," he replied. Sissi smirked, squatted down, and then pushed off her back foot, running at full speed toward the Ulrich on her left. The clone made a swipe at her, but she turned around, facing her back toward him, and jumped over his swiping sword, facing the ceiling. She executed a backflip in this movement and landed so close to the clone that she could feel his outfit rub against her back. With great speed, she turned around and sliced his stomach wide open with her dagger, causing the clone to disappear as if he was being devirtualized anywhere else in Lyoko. Continuing her spin, she squatted down on the ground and sweep-kicked the real Ulrich's feet out from under him. Then she stopped, ran toward the wall and up it, then pushed off of it, launching herself at the remaining clone. As she drew closer, it lifted its sword into a horizontal position and pointed it at the girl. She gasped and, with nowhere to go, would inevitably meet the blade of Ulrich's weapon.

"Laser Arrow!" Several Arrows lodged themselves into the clone's side and it vanished. Then Odd ran toward the girl and jumped into the air, catching her. He landed on the ground on one knee with Sissi in his arms and let out a relieved sigh. Sissi was shocked for a moment, not even realizing what just happened, but came back to Lyoko when Odd called her name. "Sissi! Are you OK?" He shook her gently and she looked up at him. Then he set her down on the ground on her knees.

"Odd, you saved me," she said quietly and looked over to him. He gave her a grin and a thumb up. She smiled and practically tackled him to the ground, hugging him tightly. Odd could feel his face getting hot as he began blushing. Yumi, William, and Aelita stood by Franz Hopper's cell, watching them with confusion, uncaring, and happiness. Yumi was about to say something when she noticed Ulrich stir slightly. She began walking toward him when he quickly jumped to his feet and pointed his sword in Sissi's direction.

"Look out!" she yelled, but not in enough time for a reaction from the two Lyoko Warriors she was shouting at. Sissi emitted a choked cough as the cold steel of a blade pierced through her back, skewering her whole body. She could feel her blood drip from the entry and exit points of the weapon and she coughed up a little over Odd's shoulder. The other three looked on in horror as Ulrich, who was standing behind Sissi with his blade through her, drew it out slowly, causing the girl the scream. Then he turned to them and charged. He held his sword next to his head, parallel to the ground, and attempted to stab Yumi. She parried it to the side and kicked upward, hitting him in the jaw. He flew backward and landed on his back as Yumi finished her maneuver with a backflip and landed on her feet in a squat. Ulrich pushed off of the ground and onto his feet, but was immediately met with William's frozen chain in his face. The strike sent him in a corkscrew in midair and he landed on his side. He put a hand to his face and felt his frozen cheek. He got back up and ran at William in supersprint. William lashed out at him with his chain, but Ulrich ducked and avoided it. Then, as he passed by him, he grabbed the chain off of his other arm. Ulrich ran up the wall with his sword in his right hand and his newly acquired weapon in his left, and his ensemble went from yellow to red, as did his hair. His momentum carried him up the wall and onto the ceiling, and he stopped running above William. The white-clad boy looked up at him, still in shock from the loss of his chain, and watched as Ulrich pushed off the ceiling and came bearing down on him. He held up his ice chain in both hands as Ulrich came down with his fire one. Ulrich almost reached him, but never did. He hit concrete, hard, with a sickening crunch sound and lay there, motionless. Aelita stopped singing and dropped to one knee, her task complete. William stood in shock, but recovered and stepped back. Inches above where he was just standing was a large slab of concrete, jutting from the wall. Aelita was breathing heavily, now on both knees and palms. Yumi sighed a breath of relief, but didn't hold her liberation from the fight for long when a new concern overcame her. She turned to where Odd was laying, motionless. Somehow, Sissi was still sitting up and looked down at the boy, blood staining her shirt. Yumi ran over to them and kneeled down beside Odd. He coughed up some blood and began struggling.

"Guys," he began and coughed a couple more times, "I just had… a premonition." Sissi was sitting over him, crying and Yumi was on the verge of tears. Odd managed to lift his arm and point around the left corner of the fork in the hallway. "Aelita… Scyphozoa…" Yumi turned to where he was pointing and noticed that Aelita was no longer present. She made one last glance at Odd, got up, and made for the adjacent hallway.

"Come on," she said to William as she ran by him. She stopped when he didn't move and just stared at Sissi crying into Odd's chest.

"But, what about Sissi?" he asked.

"She'll come when she's ready," Yumi replied and they both took off down the corridor with a nod from William.

"Well, I always knew," Odd coughed, "that I'd go out fighting." Sissi looked into his eyes as he said this.

"Odd, you can't die! Not like this," she added quietly. Odd chuckled softly.

"You know something, I never got to tell you how I really feel about you," he said slowly. She stared at him without a word. "Ever since you became part of the group and… have been helping us on Lyoko, I… began to feel different about you. I got… to know you and learned… that you're a really cool person." Sissi started tearing again and sniffled. "I always thought… that you were a jerk and now… I really like you. Sissi," he coughed hard, "I love you." Sissi broke out crying now and lay down on his chest.

"Odd, I love you too," she said through her sobs. She sat up and stared into his eyes. The last movement she saw from him was the closing of his eyes and a smile spread across his face before he slipped from three worlds at once: Earth, Lyoko, and Sissi's.

**+XoX+**

Yumi and William wound ran down the hall and soon came to turn. They went around the corner and found who they were looking for, but she was in the clutches of what they were hoping they wouldn't find. Yumi pulled out a fan and tossed it at the Scyphozoa, slicing the tentacles that held Aelita. She dropped to the ground and the jellyfish-like monster made its retreat down the hallway. Aelita sat up and rubbed her head. "Can you devirtualize us now, Jeremie?" Yumi asked the ceiling.

"No, I can't," he replied typing. "It doesn't look like I can just devirtualize you whenever I want while you're in Sector 6. Don't worry, though, I found a devirtualization hotspot at the end of the corridor you're in. Grab Ulrich and Sissi and take them there."

"You take Aelita," William said, turning to Yumi. "I'll get Ulrich and Sissi." Yumi nodded, helped Aelita to her feet, and took off down the hallway. William watched them for a second, then went back the way he came. After a minute, Franz Hopper's cell came into view, as did the concrete level that Ulrich still rested on, unconscious. He turned the corner and saw Sissi still kneeling next to Odd with a dagger in her hand. She looked as if she was contemplating something. William looked away from her and at Ulrich, then climbed up to his resting place. Then he lifted the boy onto his back and hopped down. Sissi stared at her dagger for a moment, then put the point against her chest. "What are you doing?" William yelled at her. She kept her head down and sat there.

"Why couldn't he have taken me too," she replied, staring at her dagger. William walked over, kneeled down beside her, and grabbed her wrist.

"Sissi," she looked at him with tears streaming down her face. He shook his head and she began to cry. After a few minutes, she calmed down and he released her.

"We have to go," he said and helped her to her feet. He looked from her to Odd and set Ulrich down on the ground. "Here, take Ulrich," he said and walked over to Odd. He lifted the boy into his arms and Sissi put Ulrich on her back. She gave a small smile to William and they made their way down the hall. After a few minutes, they joined up with Yumi and Aelita, who were standing on a glowing circle on the floor. They stepped onto it and Jeremie began typing.

"Materialization!" he shouted and the five of them vanished from the Sector.

**+XoX+**

Sissi was on her bed, crying, when Yumi walked in to see how she was doing. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to the girl, who had her head in her pillow. She stroked the girl's hair lightly. "I know, I miss him too," she said with tears in her eyes. "Nobody has ever died before, we worked hard to make sure of that. The fact that he had to die," she clenched her fists, "I hate X.A.N.A. so much." Sissi stopped crying and sat up. Then she leaned onto Yumi's arm and began crying again.

**+XoX+**

"There, he's all cured," Jeremie said to Aelita and stopped typing. Yumi was down in the scanner room and caught Ulrich as he came tumbling out of one. Then she carried him into the elevator and into the lab. She set him down against the wall and walked over to Jeremie. "It was a tricky virus, but I managed to get it out of him."

"I talked to Sissi," Yumi said. "She's taking it harder than the rest of us."

"I can't believe that he's gone," Aelita said.

Dinner was quiet at their table as Yumi, William, Jeremie, and Aelita reminisced about their fallen friend. Sissi sat in her room, staring at a photo of Odd. "I miss you," she said, sobbing, and held the photo against her chest.


	7. Chapter Six: Family Reunion

**Chapter 6: Family Reunion**

Ulrich woke up and felt different, like he had three Blocks and a Krabe on his chest for two months and they were removed in his sleep. He sat up and noticed that his head felt much different as well. It had always felt as if it had clamp tightened around it since X.A.N.A.'s escape, and it had been tightened progressively since then. Now, it was gone: no pain, no headaches. He got out of bed, put his arms over his head, and stretched. A sigh of relief escaped his mouth as he gazed about his surroundings, glad to be in his room without any worries, except, _Where's Odd?_ He glanced at the clock. _10:34…_ A look of concern swept over his face and he left the room. He knocked on Jeremie's door, hoping the boy was up still, trying to find Aelita's anti-virus. There were a few noises on the other side of the door and the creaking of a bed. Ulrich took it upon himself to step inside and saw Jeremie lying down, obviously faking sleep. Ulrich shook his head and walked over to him, then shook his shoulder. "Jeremie, come on," he said with concern in his voice. Jeremie rolled over and sat up.

"Ulrich, you're awake," he said nonchalantly. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "What's up?"

"Odd, he's not in his bed," Ulrich replied. Jeremie dropped his head to the floor and sighed.

"You don't remember?" Jeremie asked him. The other boy shook his head in response. "You… killed him…" Ulrich gasped as the suppressed memories of his control by X.A.N.A. came back into his head. "X.A.N.A. might've prevented you from remembering."

"No, I remember now. I killed him and," his eyes got big, "Sissi too!" He turned to the wall and slammed his fist against it.

"Sissi's alright," Jeremie told him. "She survived." This didn't seem to cheer up Ulrich, who leaned his back against the wall, slid to the floor, and began to cry into his folded arms.

"I killed him…" Ulrich stopped crying and, after five minutes of silence, stood up and left the room. Jeremie sat still for a moment, then took his place back at his computer. He booted it back up and began to type.

Ulrich threw himself onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't bear to look at Odd's vacant mattress and began to cry again. He cried himself to sleep eventually, but the memory of him sliding his sword through Sissi's and Odd's bodies while he was unable to control his own haunted his dreams until morning.

**+XoX+**

Breakfast the next morning wasn't the best time for the brown-haired boy to approach his friends. They didn't blame Ulrich for Odd's death, or wouldn't after they got over it. For now they didn't know who to point fingers at. Ulrich didn't tell them about his problem, but X.A.N.A. was responsible for the whole thing. But, no matter how they all felt about Ulrich, they were too depressed to speak to him when he sat down with them in the dining hall. He took a seat next to Yumi, who didn't even look at him much less give him a greeting. Nobody talked, not just in ignorance of him, but not even to each other. The only sounds emitting from the table were the squishing sounds of chewing and swallowing. In no time, Sissi finished her breakfast (a little trick she learned from Odd) and returned her tray. Ulrich watched her leave and dropped his head, feeling sorry for her. Odd had confided in him his love for the girl, and Sissi obviously felt the same. _I took his life, my best friend… No, it was X.A.N.A.'s fault. Him and…_ He perked up and shot to his feet. Then he ran out of the dining hall as quickly as possible. Yumi watched as he left and took a chance at speaking.

"Where do you think he's going," she managed to say, forgetting about Odd for a moment. Jeremie looked up at her, relieved to hear someone talking. He sat there for a moment, contemplating.

"I don't…" then it came to him. "Xavier!"

**+XoX+**

Ulrich threw open the door to Sensei Belpois' Dojo and entered the building. Xavier was standing in the middle of the room, garbed in traditional karate robes with the sleeves torn off. He was practicing some stances when he heard the bell ring, signaling that someone had entered. He smirked, knowing whom it would be, stopped, and turned around. "Ulrich, I imagined your virus was removed after I spoon-fed my little cousin your diagnosis. I'm sure he could at least manage that," he added with a laugh. Ulrich's expression became one of anger.

"You shut up," Ulrich yelled at the man. "Jeremie is ten times smarter than you are. He's not stupid enough to be X.A.N.A.'s slave." For the first time in the months he's known Xavier, Ulrich saw him get angry. The man approached him and stopped in front of him.

"Where do you get off," he began. Then, without any warning, he lifted his fist and backhanded Ulrich with it across the face at such a speed, Ulrich didn't have time to dodge. When Ulrich hit the ground, Xavier finished, "talking to your Sensei like that?" Ulrich could tell the man was slightly flustered by his comment; he had never seen Xavier like this. Ulrich got to his feet and rubbed his cheek. Then he assumed a martial arts stance as Xavier did the same.

With a smirk, the boy said, "You know I've always wanted to spar with you." The man smirked evilly.

"I didn't want to take you out before X.A.N.A. took control of you. Now that you're cured, it won't matter. After I kill you, I'll kill all of your little friends, and then I'll hand Aelita over to the Scyphozoa." He chuckled menacingly. "You won't walk away alive, Stern." Ulrich was the first to attempt an attack. He ran at the man and leapt in front of him, performing a spinning kick in midair. Xavier back up and avoided it easily. Ulrich landed back on the ground and threw a punch. His opponent grabbed is fist and stopped the attack. The boy tried the same stunt with his other fist, yielding the same results. The man smirked and planted his knee into Ulrich's stomach and let go of him. The boy dropped to the floor and wrapped his arms around his abdomen, groaning in pain. Xavier grabbed his hair and lifted off the ground, Ulrich's feet dangling above the floor. "You made a mistake ever getting involved," he said. "Turning on the Super Computer was a mistake. If you had just let it alone, I would've done it a you wouldn't have to die."

"Hey, I wanna know," Ulrich said, struggling to get free from Xavier's grip. "Why didn't you like me calling you X.A.N.A.'s slave?" The man growled and drew back his fist. Then he rammed it full force into Ulrich's face, sending him flying into the padded wall.

"I'm his partner!" he yelled. Ulrich smirked and stood back up, wobbling but confident.

"So you run around doing his biding and you're his partner? What's he done for you?" Ulrich asked smugly. Xavier's anger grew deeper and he charged at Ulrich. His blind rage made him slower and Ulrich almost had a chance to dodge this time, though he was still knocked to the ground and rolled across it from another attack. Hit spit the blood out of his mouth and began panting from exhaustion. _He's fast, but if I keep it up, he'll get so distracted that I might have a chance._ Back on his feet, he continued his insulting comments. "So you're getting something out of being X.A.N.A.'s lackey then? It just looks like you're his minion if you ask me!" Ulrich began to laugh.

"Well nobody asked you!" Xavier yelled and through a punch at Ulrich. The boy avoided it this time, sidestepping the attack and causing Xavier to fall to the ground. Ulrich began laughing again, mocking the man. Xavier stood back up and punched again, and Ulrich dodged again. He attempted to hit Ulrich again and again, but the boy kept avoiding each blow with ease, Xavier slowing down with each attack. Ulrich became too cocky though, laughing again. Xavier seized the opportunity and gripped up Ulrich by his shirt. "You know, you're really annoying," he said and smirked. "I wonder which one of your friends I should kill." Ulrich looked into his evil, glaring eyes with horror. "My brainy cousin Jeremie? Or maybe your little girlfriend Yumi." He began to laugh as Ulrich struggled to get out of the man's grasp. He stopped thrashing and began to chuckle quietly. "What's so funny?" Xavier asked him, a little confused.

"You wanna know what's funny?" Ulrich replied and grabbed onto the man's wrists. "I think it's funny how you think you're such a big shot."

"What did you say?" Xavier yelled, tightening his grip.

"We've been fighting X.A.N.A. for two years and you think you're the worst thing that's happened to us. There have been countless occasions where me and my friends were faced with death since we met X.A.N.A. and you don't even come close to being a threat like he is." The man's arrogant face became angry. "You don't even count!" Ulrich yelled and slammed his forehead into Xavier's. The man dropped Ulrich and fell to one knee, rubbing his forehead. Ulrich immediately spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of Xavier's head, who was sent flying to his side on impact. He landed a couple feet away and didn't have time to get away before Ulrich kneeled down next to him and raised his fist into the air. "This ends now!" He didn't finish it though, because a bell sounded before he could. He looked up to see all of his friends, the Lyoko Warriors, enter through the door of the dojo. This distraction was just what Xavier needed, however, and spun on is back, kicking Ulrich and knocking him to the floor. Then the man stood up and ran for the door. William and Yumi were ready to take him, taking martial arts stances. Xavier merely leapt into the air and drove his feet into their chests, knocking them into Jeremie and Sissi, and the four of them went toppling to the floor. Then the man punched Aelita hard in the stomach and let her fall limp over his shoulder.

"I'll just take this," he said arrogantly and ran out of the dojo. Ulrich's confidence was shattered and he began to feel the pain all over his body. Once the others got to their feet, they looked at Ulrich apologetically.

"Ulrich, we didn't mean to-" Yumi began, but stopped at Ulrich's coughing. He panted for breath as he got to his feet, bruises on his body and blood on his clothes.

"There's no time for apology; we have to save Aelita!" Ulrich yelled and staggered to the door. He almost fell, Yumi having to catch him.

"Here," she said and put him in piggyback position on her back.

"Thanks Yumi," Ulrich said weakly and smiled. Then they all took off for the factory.

**+XoX+**

Xavier typed for a moment then dragged Aelita to the scanner room. He threw her in one of the cylindrical virtualization devices and stepped into one himself. When the rest of the Lyoko gang arrived, Jeremie noted that the two were in Sector 6. "Alright, hurry to the scanners!" Jeremie told them and they left immediately, everyone but Ulrich. "You've done enough fighting; there's no way you can do anything more."

"You're cousin's weakened too," Ulrich explained.

"Then Yumi, William, and Sissi should be able to take him down." Jeremie turned back to his monitor. "Virtualization!" The next thing the three knew, they were in the familiar hallway of the Prison Sector. The prison door next to them was busted down, which they assumed was Ulrich's doing. Sissi shuddered slightly, the horrible memories of the place coming back to her. She was relieved of it when William and Yumi placed comforting hands on her shoulders. Then, they took off down the corridor. In no time at all, they found Xavier standing next to Aelita with the Scyphozoa just behind her. It came near and lifted her into its tentacles, then began to drain her memory.

"Too easy," Yumi said, viewing Xavier as her only obstacle. She tossed one of her fans at the creature and it almost reached it, but then stopped. Yumi gasped at the figure that blocked her weapon, and it wasn't Xavier. Or at least, it wasn't the Xavier that she first saw when she approached him and Aelita. It was a second one, and on top of that, a third came to his and the first Xavier's side. "There are three of them?" Yumi asked in distress.

"Great, one for each of us," William commented and pulled off his earth chain. Sissi pulled out her daggers and began to attack, clashing her weapons with Xavier's kunai, matching him blow for blow. William engaged another, swinging his chain with tremendous force at the man. Yumi took the last, tossing her fans then attacking at close range with her fans in hand. Sissi managed to do away with the Xavier she was fighting, slicing through it as if it were nothing. But it was nothing, unfortunately, and vanished on impact.

"Just a clone?" she exclaimed and turned to the others. "Which one is real?"

"Who cares! Just take them out!" William yelled and slammed his chain on the ground, causing the floor to rupture and crack under Xavier's feet. His opponent fell through the floor and into the nothingness below.

"Is that the real one?" he asked, watching Yumi slice her fans at him as he backed up, dodging them. Jeremie watched as Aelita's memory dropped on his monitor.

"Hurry up guys!" Jeremie yelled at them. They were about to attack Xavier when suddenly, five more clones appeared.

"He can create more than Ulrich!" Yumi exclaimed, backing up to join William and Sissi.

"We're not going to survive this!" William said, panting hard from his fight. Jeremie sat at his monitor, franticly trying to come up with a solution.

_What are we going to do!_ Aelita's memory count hit five hundred. _I could do that… it's an isolated Sector and that might just be the only way!_ He sighed and brought up a window. Then he proceeded to type in a word: SCIPIO. Suddenly, a giant, X.A.N.A. marked orb came up through the hole in the floor that William had created and engulfed the protesting Warriors, then exited the way it had come. Within a few seconds, another person appeared above the ground and landed several feet from the man.

"Jeremie?" Xavier asked, perplexed. "Since when do you come to Lyoko?"

"Since I want to save my friends!" Jeremie yelled in response. Just then, another orb, this time purple and the size of Jeremie's head, appeared between them. It dropped to the ground and divided. Then those two divided. Eventually, the small section of the ground in-between the two was covered with the purple goop.

"What the hell is this?" Xavier asked, staring at the Marabounta as it continued to grow and move around like… _It's alive?_ The man backed up, slightly frightened, and didn't do anything to Jeremie when he leapt across the sheet of purple and landed next to him. Then the boy quickly scooped up a handful of the Marabounta, screaming as it ate away at his flesh, and launched it at the Scyphozoa. The monster released it's captive on impact and began disintegrating under the activity of the Marabounta. Jeremie lifted Aelita onto his back and made his way down the hallway, listening to the screams of Xavier as the Marabounta did its job.

**+XoX+**

"Jeremie!" Yumi yelled after being released from the transport orb to Carthage.

"Yumi, it's Ulrich," the boy in the lab replied, taking Jeremie's place at the monitor.

"Ulrich! What's going on?" she asked him, standing with William and Sissi in the center of the arrival platform.

"I'm sure Jeremie can explain better than I can, once he comes back from Sector 6," the boy replied. "I'm brining you guys back."

"Jeremie's in Sector 6? Why?" Sissi asked, confused. Ulrich just shook his head and tapped a key on the keyboard. The three students were then taken from Sector 5 and sent back to the scanners.

"Alright, Jeremie, I brought them home," Ulrich said into the headset. Jeremie continued to move through the corridors of the Prison Sector, drawing closer to the devirtualization hotspot.

"Good job, now the normal materialization program and Aelita's are booted up already," Jeremie said, outrunning the Marabounta by mere feet. "When I say so, run the programs, just like I showed you."

"Got it, Einstein." Yumi, William, and Sissi stepped out of the elevator and into the lab. Ulrich looked at them and gave a smile. "Good to see you guys," he said cheerfully.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," Yumi responded and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Now what's going on with Jeremie?"

"Um, just one second…" Ulrich said, listening in.

"Ready Ulrich?"

"Ready…"

"NOW!" Jeremie yelled, inches from the hotspot. Ulrich punched the key on the keyboard twice and program started just as Jeremie landed in the hotspot. Jeremie and Aelita began to vanish with the Marabounta drawing closer. Just in time, they vanished from the Sector before the Marabounta reached them and flooded the corridor.

Jeremie and Aelita were greeted by the other four of the Lyoko gang when they stepped out of the scanners. Their friends helped them out of the scanners with smiles on their faces. "I can't believe you went to Lyoko and sent out the Marabounta," Ulrich said. Yumi gave the blonde boy a hug.

"That was so brave!" she exclaimed and began to laugh in excitement. The boy was let go, only to be caught in another hug by Aelita.

"Thank you for saving me," she said with a smile and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled as well and the gang gave a triumphant cry on the defeat of Xavier.


	8. Chapter Seven: Farewell, Princess

**Chapter 7: Farewell, Princess**

Aelita opened her eyes slowly, lying on her back on the laboratory floor. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then looked about the room. "I must've fallen asleep in here," she said to herself and stood up. Then she noticed the others congregated around Jeremie at his console. "Hello, everyone," she said with a smile. They peered around the monitor and each other to look at her and smiled back, then joined her on the other side of the room: Ulrich, Yumi, William, Sissi, Jeremie, and… _Odd?_ They circled around her, but suddenly, didn't seem very happy anymore. In fact, they had blank, empty, lifeless stares on their faces. "Is everything OK?" Aelita asked, a little frightened.

"Aelita…" came a voice from nowhere, yet emitted everywhere in the room. The girl looked around franticly for the source.

"Who's there?" she asked to nothing. Then came a laugh in the likeness of the same voice. It was dark and evil. Aelita looked around, pivoting in place, then turned around and came face to face with a man. With a shriek of surprise, she fell to the ground. Xavier stood over her and laughed again. "Y-you!"

"Can't even remember my name?" he asked her coolly in his same arrogant voice.

"But, Jeremie killed you!" Aelita yelled, uncertain if what she remembered about her last visit to Sector 6 was reality. The man merely smirked and pulled a kunai from a pouch on his side underneath his trench coat. Then he walked over to Odd and stood next to him. He faced back to Aelita and faced the point of his weapon at Odd's chest.

"Did you ever think about how X.A.N.A. can attack the real world?" he asked her. Then he stabbed the kunai into Odd and pulled it out quickly, the boy falling to the floor. Aelita starred at the display in horror, witnessing the boy's death a second time. The man couldn't help but laugh again. "X.A.N.A. can attack," Xavier continued, stepping next to William," because Jeremie won't shut down the Super Computer." Now he forced his weapon through William's chest, who dropped to the ground as well. He made his way over to Sissi, the next in line. "And do you know why," he put the kunai into Sissi's chest and kept it there as he finish, "he won't shut it down?" He removed the blade and walked over to Ulrich. With a quick motion, he slashed his weapon across Ulrich's neck and the boy fell to the floor, blood draining from his wound. "Because of you." Aelita followed him around the room as he came upon Yumi. Her expression of shock and terror never wavered from her face through Xavier's speech. A quick slash across Yumi's torso and she joined the others in a bloody mess on the ground. Xavier now stood by Jeremie, keeping his kunai at his side. "Jeremie wants to save you and, in the process, is putting you in danger. Because of you, everyone is exposed to X.A.N.A.'s wrath. Because of you, all of your friends will die!" He turned around a slammed his weapon through Jeremie's forehead. The boy silently mouthed the word "Aelita" before his lifeless body fell. Aelita stared for a few minutes, then began to cry into her hands. When she looked up, Xavier was kneeling next to her. "Because of you…"

Aelita sat up, screaming, and frightened the others. Jeremie sat down next to her and held her in his arms. "It's OK," he said soothingly, and cast a glance at the others. They gave him a knowing nod and left the pink-haired girl's room. Once Aelita calmed down, she became curious. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Well, you passed out after I brought you back from Sector 6," Jeremie explained, releasing her. She sat up and listened. "Apparently, having your memory taken from you is very exhausting, and, judging by the properties of that Sector, it took a lot out of you. You were fine at first, but you soon began to feel a little weird, then passed out. Nothing to worry about though; I scanned you for anything." He stood up upon conclusion of his explanation, holding Aelita's hands and leading her off the bed. She practically jumped on him and embraced him in a hug. Jeremie returned the gesture after an initial shock of her motion, and they held each other for a few moments. Little did the boy know that what was going through Aelita's head would change his life, more so than when she was first discovered.

**+XoX+**

The next day ran like a normal day, before X.A.N.A.'s activation. The only thing that was different was the atmosphere. A lot of people around the school at least felt bad about Odd's death. Some of them were saddened, some flat out depressed. Sissi still felt the pain two days after the incident, pain that didn't lessen. If anything, it got worse. When dinner rolled around, everyone was present but Odd, of course, and Aelita. Jeremie theorized that she was still upset by her nightmare to come down to dinner. "She was really freaked out," he said and swallowed his food. "She seemed a little jumpy during class too. I think I'll go see how she's doing," he finished and stood up. After taking back his tray, he left the dining hall. His mind was strangely clear while he walked toward Aelita's dorm room. Nothing seemed to occupy it for once, not X.A.N.A., the anti-virus; even Aelita herself didn't invade the serenity of his current state of mind. He stopped at the door and gave it a knock. Several attempts yielding no answer drew him into entering on his own. "Aelita, are you here?" he asked, stepping into the room. "Where is she?" he asked out-loud. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. He placed it next to his ear, but only received her voicemail message. Then he left the room and the dorm building, intercepting Ulrich and Yumi on the way.

"Hey Einstein," Ulrich said, the three of them stopping in the schoolyard. "How's Aelita feeling?"

"She's, um… fine," Jeremie replied and walked away without another word. Ulrich and Yumi shrugged, then left the premises and into town.

_Maybe she went to the factory…_ He walked toward the woods and, after locating the manhole, descended into the sewer. After climbing down the ladder, he grabbed his scooter, noticing that Aelita's was missing, and rode deeper into the sewer. After reaching the bars that prevented further infiltration, he got off of his vehicle and climbed out of another manhole. A traverse over the bridge into the factory, and he slid down one of the ropes dangling from the ceiling. The elevator came back up the shaft after a few key presses on the console on one of the beams of the shaft. _If she was trying to prevent me from following, she didn't do a very good job._ He entered the elevator and pressed a button, the lift taking him downward. He made his first stop at the lab, but she wasn't there. Checking his console, he noticed that she had virtualized herself. _Why would she do this?_ He placed his headset on and attempted to contact her.

"Aelita, can you hear me?" he asked. The response he received was a countdown on his monitor. "Aelita, what's going on. Why are you using the other materialization program?" She still didn't answer him, enticing him to run back into the elevator. It was gone though, and didn't come back up for a couple minutes. When he finally entered the elevator and went to the scanner room. She wasn't there either. _She materialized herself, then took the elevator. It came up, so she must be below the lab. But, she's not in the scanner room, so she's in the computer room. And she has her powers._ He perked up as it all came together and he ran back inside the lift. He ran into the bottom level of the factory and finally found her. She was dressed, as he assumed, in her green and pink Lyoko outfit. She was facing the Super Computer and appeared to be contemplating something. "Aelita," Jeremie said, snapping her out of her trance.

"Jeremie," she replied, not turning to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked her. She let out a sigh and continued to stare at the computer.

"I killed Odd," she said finally. Jeremie was confused.

"What are you talking about? It was X.A.N.A.'s fault Odd died," he responded to her statement.

"You know what I mean," she said. "X.A.N.A. did kill Odd, but X.A.N.A.'s only alive because of me, because you won't shut off the computer."

"Aelita, it's not like that. It's not your fault." She turned to Jeremie slightly and lifted her hand at the computer.

"It is my fault. And now, I'm going to put an end to this, so no one has to die." Jeremie started toward her.

"Aelita, please, I can help you. There's no sense in killing yourself too!" he exclaimed in his attempt to change her mind.

"Don't come any closer," she said and lifted her other hand to him.

"Aelita…" Jeremie continued to walk toward her.

"I said stay away!" she yelled. The ground below the boy rose into the air, knocking him off of his feet and onto his bottom. He let out a small groan of pain and looked back to the girl. "Don't try and stop me." She turned back to the computer and began to sing. Her tone was fierce as she sang the note and the concrete that surrounded the computer began to dislodge itself from the rest of the floor. The ground slowly wrapped itself around the Super Computer, putting intense pressure on it. Jeremie watched in awe as Aelita crushed the computer, slowly but surely.

"Aelita, no!" he yelled to her. She turned to him, one last time.

"I'm sorry Jeremie. I love you." With one last violent note, she finished what she set out to do, compressing the computer inside the spherical form of the concrete. Her body began to wobble as it was being crushed. She created another barrier around the mass she had created, preventing the inevitable explosion from harming Jeremie. When it finally did, chunks of the concrete flew from the accumulation and the whole structure fell to the ground, inside the whole that once housed the Super Computer. Aelita finally dropped her hand and fell backward. Jeremie managed to get up in time to run over to her and catch her before she hit the floor.

"Aelita," he said in suspense, hoping that she was still alive. He knew she wouldn't be, though, and she clarified his assumption with her lack of response. Her eyes and mouth hung open, her entire body lifeless. He shook her, attempting to bring the life back into her. "Aelita!" He put his head against hers and began to cry. "AELITA!"

**+XoX+**

"Neither of them will answer their phones," Yumi said, putting her own back in her pocket. Suddenly, Jeremie's computer made a noise and they all stared at the monitor for a moment.

"Connection lost, what's that supposed to mean?" Ulrich asked, looking back to Yumi.

"I don't know," she said. Then she looked at the clock in Jeremie's room. "I really need to go; thanks for the great night Ulrich," she said, kissed him on the cheek, and left the room. William and Sissi watched her leave, then turned back to Ulrich.

"I wonder why they won't answer," Sissi said.

"Maybe they're on a date or something," William replied. Ulrich nodded.

"That's possible." Just then, the door opened, revealing half of their subject of interest. "Jeremie, there you are. What were you and Aelita up to?" he asked in a joking voice. Jeremie wasn't happy thought, and stepped in the room with his head down. "Jeremie?" The blonde looked up at Ulrich with a tear stained face.

"Aelita, she's…" he dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands.

"What happened to Aelita?" William asked, him and Aelita standing up quickly.

"Lyoko, X.A.N.A., and Aelita; they're all gone," Jeremie replied. The others gasped.

"What?" Ulrich exclaimed, unbelieving of what he was hearing.

"Aelita destroyed the Super Computer." William, Sissi, and Ulrich all looked to each other.

"So, what happens now?" Sissi asked after a few minutes passed. Ulrich let out a sigh.

"Nothing; it's over," he replied. "X.A.N.A.'s been destroyed." They all looked to the boy on the floor. Ulrich kneeled next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's time to let go," he said and turned to Sissi. "Time for all of us." Jeremie continued to stare at the ground.

_I'm sorry Jeremie. I love you."_

"I love you too, Aelita…"


End file.
